Charlotte Weasley

Chapter 4 - The Order?

"So how do we get up there?" Victoire asked. 

"There's a hatch in Ron's closet." 

Victoire picked up a pair of binoculars, no doubt a gift from dad, he was always obsessed with the muggle stuff. "These could be useful."

Charlotte opened the door to Ron's closet and began to climb the towering boxes to reach the ceiling. "Got it!" The hatch swung open and a thin ladder came spilling down. The darkening sky was now visible. 

When they got to the roof they carefully made their way to the side where the garden, and the secret meeting they weren't allowed to, was. The table was filled up with adult witch and wizards now and they were just colorful shapes in the distance.

"Can you tell who they are? Here, use these."

Charlotte looked through the binoculars and now the blurry and distorted shapes were clear and she could make out who most of them were. "I see Luna, she's a family friend, Hagrid-- you know him, Professor McGonagall, Professor Longbottom, and about four other people I don't know."

"I wonder what they're all doing here. A reunion?"

"Let's listen, maybe we can figure it out." Charlotte took the extendable ears from her sweatshirt pocket.  

"I don't think the ears are long enough." Victoire said, sizing up the string.

"Don't worry, they extend." Charlotte dangled her legs off the roof-- she wasn't scared of heights and then let one end of the ears go and it travelled all the way down the house and followed the noise towards the table. 

Suddenly, voices came out of their end, clear as day. 

"But Harry, are you sure about this? How can this possibly be happening?" An unknown voice asked.  

"Here, can you hold onto the string so I can see who's talking?" Victoire nodded and Charlotte picked up the binoculars, focusing back on the table. 

"Very sure. All the signs are the same as last time. The giants are migrating across the north, the dementors are breeding, even Malfoy has mentioned that some of the ex-death eaters have approached him and hinted at the old ways." Harry responded, his voice dark. 

"But why now?" Professor Longbottom asked. "Why not ten years ago?"

"We've thought about that. I've spoken to Malfoy about it as well and we've theorized that they have been biding their time, seeing what the rest of us do, lulling us into a false sense of security. That's why I believe it is paramount that we reinstate the order now before it's too late. We have to start now, build up our defenses and make a return impossible." Harry explained. 

"Why isn't Malfoy here anyways. How do we know that he's not a death eater still?" Charlotte didn't recognize who was talking but he looked to be about Harry's age. 

"Malfoy is currently undercover, trying to figure out exactly how serious the problem is. Don't worry, he's on our side. He never wanted to be a death eater anyways." 

"I still don't trust him." The same man said.

"Alright. I think Harry is right." Another man said with a remarkably deep and calm voice. "The Order of the Phoenix must come back."

Charlotte set down the binoculars. "The Order of The Phoenix?"

Victoire looked just as confused. "No clue."

"I remember now. I overheard mum and dad talking about it late one night a few years ago."

"Do you remember why they were talking about it?"

"No, it was a long time ago." Charlotte tried to recollect but her mind was drawing a blank. 

They turned their focus back to the crackling sound from the extendable ears. 

"Alright. I think that's enough for tonight. Let's have another meeting in a few days. The old location?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "It's settled then."

Everyone started getting up. "Anyone is welcome to stay for dessert, I made a trifle." Mrs Weasley interjected. 

"Sounds wonderful Molly but I have an early shift in the morning."

A few other people replied with similar remarks but then a few agreed to stay. 

"Alright, I'll go call the kids down."

"Crap! We have to get back to my room!" 

Charlotte crawled up and followed Victoire down the hatch, quickly shutting it and running out of Ron's room. They heard voices downstairs and ran down to Charlotte's room and shut the door just as Mrs Weasley was making her way up. 

She knocked before opening the door, "Dessert's ready girls."

Charlotte swallowed her exhaustion and tried not to gasp, "Thanks mum, we'll be right down."

As soon as Mrs Weasley left, the two girls sighed in relief. 

"That was so close!" Charlotte exclaimed, collapsing onto her bed.

"Yeah! Thank god we saw her coming."

"Let's go get some dessert though, all that spying made me hungry."

When they finally reached the garden, Mrs Weasley was setting out a large trifle to the delight of the watchers.

Professor McGonagall stood up when she saw Charlotte. "Ah Charlotte, I have something for you." She dug into her coat and took out a thick letter. A letter with emerald green writing. A letter addressed to her. 

Her Hogwarts letter had finally come.